Okonokos

We're two points from safety with a game in hand. 6 of our 10 remaining games are at home. It is absolutely not even close to being over yet. For what it's worth, I think we will stay up.

We'll stay up. Trust me. Keep the faith. We have to give them all our support, especially at home.

CORRUPTION! Pure and simple. Absolute f****** disgrace.

Sadly, I think it's safe to say the days of charities as shirt sponsors are over. I hate what football has become.

Exactly right. We were minutes away from beating Liverpool and seconds away from drawing with Spurs. They were two of our best performances all season, so we do seem capable of raising our game for the "big" teams. That's why I still think we'll beat one of them at some point.

I'd say that was an almost perfect set of results again for us. 2 games in hand so it's really all down to us. Newcastle and Palace should be safe when we play them, with Newcastle in the 1/4 final of the FA cup as well, they might both have switched off when we play them. Palace on a Monday night at home too. The Newcastle game was due to be on 21st March but that weekend is the FA cup now. So that should be moved to mid-week, which seems to suit us. Sheff Utd at home will be mid-week too. All of which I think favours us. We seem hopeless at 3pm on Saturday.

I still can't get used to that. It doesn't make any sense at all. Philips is in their bloody name!

But in my post I said internet access was rare then compared to today, which it was. Probably over 90% of the population have access to the internet in their pocket now. That was definitely not the case 13 years ago. It was probably more like 30% then. It just shows how different things were then and how outdated the process was that went into selecting the badge. We were asked to vote but I bet only about 20% of the fan base actually voted. If they did something similar now then imagine the number of people who would vote. Totally different world and more likely that we'd get something that everyone would like.

Oh wait, so the FA 1/4 Finals are the weekend we were due to play Newcastle? Just realised that. That may work in our favour it being moved to mid-week.

Yeah, let's keep this thread going.

FIFA 20 is absolutely beyond awful. Hands down the worst football game I've ever played. The other day I decided to give my Fortuna Dusseldorf career mode on FIFA 18 another go and I've got addicted to it. 18 was actually the last good game they made. Really enjoyable. For what it's worth, I gave up with 20 when I actually managed to break clear of the AI defence and was one on one, only for my striker to sprint past me and stop in my path, knocking me over and losing the ball. That was it for me.

Oh, huddle! I thought he meant we were signing Tom Huddlestone.

My point was it was not as prevalent as it is today. I was 17 and didn't have a phone. Not even a Nokia. So it was either wait until I got home or use the school library computer and that's exactly what I remember doing to vote on the stupid badge ideas.

Yes they were fit when he took over but they still got injured during his first few months. In some ways it makes his achievement more impressive that he started his reign with our best player available and probably based his next few months of tactics around him but then lost him to injury, forcing him into a complete re-think and still managed to achieve what he did. If he had played some U23 defenders or Jedinak in defence and still improve us that would have been a big achievement too. And for every manager that would have turned the atmosphere around like Smith did, there are 1000 that wouldn't have. New manager syndrome is a bit of a myth actually. I just think to take the absolute mess we were in and turn it into the best 3 months any of us have had supporting Villa for years was a massive achievement, especially considering that he was dealing with some pretty horrible personal circumstances at the same time. We didn't just go up, we did it in style. The fans fell in love with the team again for the first time in a decade. That should have taken years to achieve. He did it in months. I can't describe how big an achievement it was.

Yes, the team he took over was in absolute disarray. Chester was playing on one leg, we had no left back, we were playing 3 right backs in the defence, Tuanzebe and Grealish both had long term injuries, El Ghazi was poor and lacked confidence until Smith came in and made him look a different player, we had a lot of ageing players who were struggling with the workload of the Championship, we had one striker in Abraham, the atmosphere at home was toxic (CABBAGE), injuries galore, we couldn't spend much in January due to FFP and had to rely on loans, we had no quality keeper, none of us knew what our best team was, we had overpaid players like Bolasie and Kodjia who had little interest. And perhaps biggest problem of all - a squad who had been playing Bruceball. But despite all this Smith made astute additions in January and guided us to a 10 game winning run to get us into the playoffs. He created a feel good atmosphere like I've never seen before just months after a toxic atmosphere. All in the space of a few months. Overachievement.

But the squad he inherited was in a right mess. He overachieved to get us up so quickly. Purslow even said it himself. I never called it a miracle finishing 5th. Just that it was better than I expected him to do when he took over, meaning he overachieved.

We were in an absolute mess in the last few games under Bruce. Remember cabbage gate? Remember playing 3 right backs and an injured James Chester in the back four? Then Grealish's 3 month injury. Sometimes the table doesn't show all those things. When Smith took over I was more than happy to give him the season and expect promotion the following season.

Did you see where we were in the table before he took over? Even Purslow said when we got promoted that we were a year ahead of schedule.

It's definitely a catch 22 and I think there are multiple different systems that could work. I suppose the good thing is to have options and looking at our squad we do actually have the capability to play a number of different systems. I think what we have been doing (5-2-3) worked to start with but it's blatantly obvious it's not working at the moment so something needs to change. We looked much, much better with four at the back on Sunday, so I would be very disappointed if we go back to the back five on Monday. I'd be happy with 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2. What would be mad is to persist with something that just doesn't work. Hopefully McGinn's imminent return will force their hand anyway and make them change the system. I just hope we can - a) find a way to get more presence in the middle of the pitch and stop teams walking through us (MCGINN) and b) get Samatta involved more. Do those two things and we have a great chance, I really believe that.

That is the nail on the head there. We've had too many of them and cannot afford any more. Every single one of them needs to run their arse off every single game. Anyone who doesn't pull their weight can sod off.

Let's face it, we haven't got much quality on the wings anyway, have we? That's why I think a 4-3-1-2 would work. Grealish would be given a free role so can pop up on either wing. Guilbert and Targett are both good enough to get forward when needed but also defend too. And then the 3 in the middle should also help us become more solid. I really think the main reason for our terrible defensive record is the lack of presence in the centre of midfield. Teams just seem to walk through us. So I actually think a 4-3-1-2 would help us defensively. Then if needed we have El Ghazi and Trezeguet on the bench to come on and offer a different approach. The main reasons I think 4-3-1-2 is the way to go is that it will give us more presence in centre mid, allows Grealish to play a free role and stops Samatta being so isolated.

I thought the same thing. Surely it will be on a Tuesday/Wednesday, which seems to favour us. I was happy when the Crystal Palace game was moved to Monday night too for the same reasons. Those 2 games are absolutely huge.

Yeah, internet access was rare then compared to today. No Twitter. No smart phones for going online whenever you wanted (Sounds great, actually). Either had to wait until you got home or had to make use of those free periods in the sixth form library checking Villa news I just remember the whole thing being a bit of a joke. I'm convinced any of us on here could improve the badge in about 10 minutes.